Judge killed in ATV accident

By Tammy Joyner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Cornelia Municipal Court judge was killed Friday night in an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle,  the Georgia State Patrol said.

Steven Charles Adams, 61, was moving his 2005 Polaris Ranger, an ATV with a bed often used on golf courses,  at his home  on Cagle Road in the northern part of Hall County, said trooper Daniel Joiner, who investigated the accident.

Adams was backing up  the vehicle when it inexplicably accelerated, according to witnesses.

Adams was ejected from the vehicle when it hit an embankment. The vehicle fell on top of him, pinning him underneath, Joiner said.

The judge and his wife were preparing to go on a camping trip when the accident happened about 5 p.m. A neighbor pulled the ATV off of Adams who was then taken to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville where he was pronounced dead.

Funeral arrangements, which are incomplete at this time, will be handled by Whitfield Funeral Home, South Chapel of Baldwin.